duke's trip to canada

you may remember that part of my birthday month celebration was a trip to canada

so we called around and found out in order for duke to go we just needed his papers saying he was current on his shots

so we headed to the vet to get a printout, grabbed our passports and off we went

we stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast in saint john
and they were pet friendly!

duke had so much fun walking around saint john

hiking the fundy trail
and climbing all the rocks

he wouldn't have stopped climbing up that rock had i not yelled at him
of course dad is just standing there letting him

posing for pics with mom and her crazy hair in the freezing cold river

trying to find good places to sit and take a nap

walking on his first suspension bridge

and doing what he does best - looking so cute!

and by the way, border patrol never even asked us for his papers
or even acknowledged he was in the car with us
hmmmmmm

city forest

maine has trees
so many that the cities actually have forests

and in these city forests there are some extremely old trees

that are extremely tall

along with celebrating my birth the entire month
i always, always take the actual day of my birth off work
and this year was no different

since sean was out of town for work, duke and i thought we'd explore the city forest

there are tons of trails and no maps
and i'm bad with directions

but duke and i did find a nice field to have a picnic in

and read a book and listen to all the bugs
and didn't hear or see a single person

it was ah-mazing!

until we came across the bog boardwalk
and it's duke hating
apparently he might go potty on the beloved boardwalk
even if i carry him
it's a bunch of boards in the woods...
and he prefers grass anyway

boo to the boardwalk - i guess i'll never get to see it
but i'll definitely go back
and explore more of the trails

even though i secretly want to boycott the place altogether for not letting duke (and me) see the bog
but i'll go back so i can have another picnic
and lay in the grass
with my honey

and the winner is.....

remember cupcake wars...

and how awesome my dock scene turned out

well, there was some stiff competition, but...

i won!

2 out of 3 categories

the whole family won some fabulously amazing prizes

to enjoy on the real dock

next summer

when it warms up again

props to my coworker for taking the picture for me with his cell phone!

birthday month celebration part II

i think i may have worn out the hubs already on the birthday month thing
he skipped town on me
claimed it was a work thing
so i've been forced to come up with fun and exciting things to do on my own
including the actual day of my birth
how dare he
at least duke still likes celebrating with me
so here's all the fun i had for the 2nd week of the celebration

day 8: wine dinner at lucerne inn with a friend (if you live near or ever visit near lucerne inn you must do so during a wine dinner - ah-mazing!)
day 9: no work!  took duke hiking and for a picnic at the city forest - who knew there was even such a thing???  more to come on that
day 10: pedicure day!
day 11: gardening day - LOVE gardening and haven't taken the time to do any this year with all the visitors and all
day 12: devoted the night to my photography class
day 13: movie night - just laid around and watched movies all night
day 14: blogging night!  been neglecting my blogging lately and devoting the entire night to it

birthday month celebration

my annual birthday month celebration has begun!
yes, i'm totally self absorbed that way
but i'm ok with it

this year has been exceptionally good so far
wanna hear about it?
well, i guess you have no choice
unless you close your browser now
but hopefully you won't, so here goes...

day 1:  wine tasting and dinner at a new place
day 2:  dinner at another new place with friends
day 3:  road trip to saint john, canada with my 2 fav boys (that's sean & duke btw)
day 4:  hiking the fundy trail and enjoying our 2nd anniversary bottle of wine while playing smess
day 5:  flea market browsing in saint john, stopping for lunch at random place that was actually open, picking up blueberries on the side of the road and watching movies with my honey
day 6:  baking some tasty treats with the blueberries from the side of the road
day 7:  making homemade salsa from all the yummy goodness from the farm stand and catching up on blogging finally

**********************************
i had a work computer mishap
it wouldn't start
so i got a new one
had a couple of pics on the old one
they were able to recover them
but i'm still waiting to receive them
i also hope to get through the pics from our canada trip soon to share them with you

we weathered the storm

we thought we would be in irene's path
so we hunkered down and prepared for her blow
we pulled out one boat and tied up the other in the middle of the lake

so of course because we were prepared
it was really nothing
but lots of wind
(the dead part isn't from irene but shear lack of water)

lots of rain
no power for about 12 hours
lots of twigs down and needing picked up

so we headed next door
to play euchre
have you ever played?
fun, fun!  but easier if you play with people that know what they're doing
(or have people they can call to confirm the rules - especially if it's in my favor)

and so we woke up in the middle of the night to all the lights coming back on
and it was all over
you know the saying "calm before the storm"?
well, we had a calm after the storm

and all was right in our world again
oh except for the flickering on and off internet
and dead work computer
that had some of the pics i wanted to share with you from other happenings...

it's what's for dinner

this is one of the best times of the summer to be in maine
ok so there are a lot of best times of the summer to be in maine
but this is exceptionally good cuz the farmer's markets are overflowing with amazing goodness

and in the past two weeks i've eaten about a lifetimes worth

broccoli

red peppers

green peppers

radishes

cucumber

tomatoes

total awesomeness!!!
all chopped up and in a bowl
the best dinner EVER

it's the one time i've been glad sean has been out of town
so i can have all the farm stand goodness all to myself!
and not have to make another meal for him

why is it that boys don't believe salad can be a dinner anyway???